Qatar to express investment interest

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is expected in Athens early next week for an official visit.

The visit comes after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ trip to the emirate’s capital, Doha, at the end of February and is part of the effort to bring the two countries closer together economically and diplomatically.

This was followed by the visit of Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis in April to the capital of Qatar, the first visit by a Greek minister there in five years.

At the same time, Kostas Fragogiannis, deputy minister of foreign affairs in charge of economic diplomacy and extroversion, and his staff, in cooperation with their counterparts in Qatar, have been trying all this time to put their economic relations on a new basis in order to remobilize investments from the rich Arab state.

Greeks remember a decade ago the attempt by members of the royal family of Qatar to promote investments in Greece, such as in the islet of Oxia and Zakynthos, which, however, had an unfortunate end.

Previously, Qatar had invested in Greek banks as well as in energy production. However, Qatar Petroleum’s share in Heron was eventually acquired by the main shareholder GEK Terna in 2021.

In addition, Qatar had been interested in the concession of the area of the former airport in Elliniko, without, however, finally proceeding to submit an official proposal.

However, Qatar has one of the largest investment funds in the world. It has often been pointed out that such investment funds seek investments in high-value projects or assets.

Therefore, its interest in investing in energy, tourism, agri-food production, as well as in real estate must be taken for granted, economic observers comment.

The diplomatic approach comes at a time when Qatar is a major financier of Turkey, while also playing a mediating role between Israelis and Palestinians for the release of Israeli hostages and the peace effort in the region. As Qatar exploits the largest natural gas deposit in the Persian Gulf together with Iran, Doha-Tehran relations are characterized as functional in terms of mediation possibilities, diplomatic sources point out.